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Eight Hour Fiction Challenge (February 2014)

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3.4K views 26 replies 8 participants last post by  ken_naga  
#1 ·
THE IDEA

To write, edit and publish a work of fiction in eight hours or less. The author is responsible for all aspects of the creative process, including cover creation (whether you do it yourself or have someone else do it) and posting it to at least one major e-book vendor (typically Amazon).

RULES

1. Everyone is welcome to participate in the challenge.

2. You may take the challenge as often as you like.

3. You are free to write whatever you wish. No work will be excluded because of its subject matter or genre.

4. The hours worked do not have to be consecutive.

5. Although writers are encouraged to attempt the challenge in eight hours or less, they may use up to 24 hours to ensure quality and completion of their work.

6. E-mail me the following details to donaldrump@segordon.com by 11:59 p.m., February 28th, 2014 (early submissions help tremendously):

  • Book Title
  • Author Name
  • Genre
  • Total Words
  • Completion time (This is used to determine the 8/12/24 hour categories.)
  • Book Cover (Please limit this to 300 pixels in width.)
  • Description
  • Author Bio (No more than a paragraph or two.)
  • Date(s) free
  • Link(s) to your entry on Amazon (If it's not on Amazon, a link to one of the other major vendors will do. Affiliate links are accepted and encouraged.)
  • Comments (Optional. Tell us what you learned from the challenge, obstacles that you had to overcome, etc.)

All of this information will be added to a spreadsheet so that I can easily sort on genre, length, completion time, etc. I may put this information in a database in the future, but for now a spreadsheet will suffice.

Results will be posted on my personal blog http://segordon.blogspot.com the first Saturday following the end of the month. If you're looking to conserve your free days, that Sunday may be your best bet. In the future, I may give the Eight-Hour Fiction Challenge its own blog or website, but let's get through the first challenge first!

Additional blogs are welcome to include the results of the Eight-Hour Fiction Challenge. Just contact me and I'd be happy to share the source code (and most importantly, images) so that it can be easily posted on your website/blog and there isn't a duplication of effort.

COMMENTS

Let's not ruin this for everyone participating. If you disagree with what we are doing, please refrain from posting here and start your own thread.

For anyone who took the challenge in the month of January, please e-mail me the above information and I will post it next Saturday (sorry, Superbowl weekend has been more of a distraction than I thought). So far, we have at least two entries:

The Iron Border by Cora Buhlert
http://www.amazon.com/The-Iron-Border-Dystopian-Tale-ebook/dp/B00I3TO5RY/

The $500 Question by Donald Rump
http://www.amazon.com/The-500-Question-Donald-Rump-ebook/dp/B00HZY1E0Y/

I'd love to see what everyone has written. Please, don't be shy.
 
#2 ·
This sounds like so much fun! I'm kicking myself for missing the January challenge. I'll definitely be participating in February. Just to hold myself to it, I declare that on February 7, 2014 I shall begin writing at 10 a.m. and hit the publish button by 6 p.m. Let it be carved in stone and inscribed upon the forehead of time, lest it be forgot.
 
C
#3 ·
Donald Rump said:
For anyone who took the challenge in the month of January, please e-mail me the above information and I will post it next Saturday (sorry, Superbowl weekend has been more of a distraction than I thought). So far, we have at least two entries:

The Iron Border by Cora Buhlert
http://www.amazon.com/The-Iron-Border-Dystopian-Tale-ebook/dp/B00I3TO5RY/

The $500 Question by Donald Rump
http://www.amazon.com/The-500-Question-Donald-Rump-ebook/dp/B00HZY1E0Y/

I'd love to see what everyone has written. Please, don't be shy.
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I'll mail you the info, Donald. Let me know when your post goes up, so I can link/tweet/+1 it.
 
#7 ·
I'll mail you the info, Donald. Let me know when your post goes up, so I can link/tweet/+1 it.
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Fantastic! If more people are exposed to it, more people will participate.

I plan to try to do one each week in February.
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Awesome, EelKat! I may also join you. If I were a full time writer again, I'd love to take the challenge once per day, but alas, I must pay the bills with something other than fart jokes.

They'll all be super short about 2k words.
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I've read some surprisingly good stories that are less than 1,000 words. I'm sure they'll be great!

I need to choose a day that the hubby will be home to care for all the kids, but doing this is one of my goals this month!
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Carving out writing time is never easy. Perhaps you can persuade your husband to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese? That seems to work for me.
 
#8 ·
Aaannnddd the writing portion of mine is done! Took about 3-4 hours for 2,792 words. I wrote really slowly, but I was doing a lot of world building. I ended up deciding to make it a teaser story for a new series, so I'll put it up for free everywhere I can and 0.99 everywhere I can't.

I broke the rules a little and commissioned a designer for the cover (sorry! I just wanted it to look pretty so badly...), so it'll be a little bit longer before I put it up. Anyone want to beta read for me? It's a YA paranormal about a werewolf mafia. I think.
 
#16 ·
Just curious if anyone else completed the challenge. I wrote/edited/published a 5,400+ short story called The Crappiest Author in under 24 hours. I also published 2 foreign translations in about 4-5 hours each, but I don't plan on counting them for this challenge. I also plan on publishing one more this evening before I go to bed.

I can't wait to hear what everyone else has come up with.
 
#21 ·
#22 ·
Been reading the boards for a few weeks and just saw this thread. Is there a thread yet for a March challenge?

I did the original Konrath challenge and thought it was a great experience. I'd been wanting to do it again but never managed to do it. With a thread and other people participating I know I can come up with something.
 
#24 ·
I'm having trouble with my e-mail, but in response to your question, I use www.depositphotos.com for most of my needs. I've also used public domain images at www.publicdomainpictures.net for a few of my covers, but the selection is limited as you might suspect.

If you have real money to spend, I recommend using www.phatpuppyart.com for cover art, especially works of fantasy. Claudia is a true professional and won't run off with your money.
 
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